This week on All Songs Considered, M. Ward puts his many side projects aside to record a new solo album — one that explores the moody songwriter's cheerier side. A Wasteland Companion isn't out until April, but we've got an exclusive sneak preview of the song "Primitive Girl."
Also on the show: no-frills blues-rock from Ohio's Mount Carmel, a snowballing slow-burner from London's Dry the River and shoegazey pop from Minnesota's Now, Now (whose members met in marching band). Plus, Julia Holter and Tiny Victories get playful with the tools and conventions of electronic music, and a CD picked solely for its cover art turns out to be from NPR's own backyard.
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